I’ve made these a few times now so it’s time to share them with you. Beer batter prawns! I have to say the first time I ever saw beer batter in action was when I was working at the (in)famous Rocinante tapas bar in Bristol (early 90s). Chef Chris would bring his bowl of flour-n-stuff from the kitchen over to the beer tap and then whisk it all up for his beautifully battered calamares. Trying this out on my own – putting together a few different recipes I found online – I have come to these main conclusions. Make sure your prawns (or fish, squid, etc) are nice and dry before commencing. Make sure your beer is COLD. And always “dust” your prawns before placing them in the batter.

I first used frozen peeled prawns because… easy. But they have to be thoroughly thawed and patted dry first. Another time I used big gambones with the tail left on, which you can see below. Also I shallow fry in a large frying pan using extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients and instructions below…

• 150g (3/4 cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour)
• 50g (1/4 cup) corn flour (cornstarch)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 25 cl (8.5 fl oz) very cold beer 
• extra flour/cornstarch for dusting

Stir together the dry ingredients listed above, and then whisk in the beer until the batter is smooth. It should be the consistency of pancake batter. Dust the prawns in the extra flour/cornstarch mix, then dip into the batter, shake off excess and gently drop into 185ºC olive oil. Be careful not to overcrowd. Drain on paper towels and then on a rack to keep them crispy.